Bill Belichick obviously hates Wes Welker. More like, Dan Shaughnessy obviously will write anything that is contrarian and will get him readers. Shaughnessy has flipped sides on this year’s Patriots team enough times that it’s hard to count. One minute he’s lauding them for miraculous comebacks and the next he’s lambasting them for poor personnel decisions.

Shaughnessy’s column

No one is trying to claim that Belichick and Welker are best friends, but the only ones who truly know what their relationship is like are the two men themselves. The fact of the matter is that they are currently part of two separate franchises and no one would expect them to be besties.

Is there bad blood? My guess would be yes. Welker’s comments since leaving the Patriots would seem to indicate that he did not have the greatest relationship with his former coach. However, those comments mainly indicate that he was afraid to get in trouble for saying the wrong thing to the media while he was a Patriot. Not surprising since he was reprimanded for his foot comments about Rex Ryan. But maybe, just maybe, this is an indication that Welker wasn’t a right fit for the Patriots and the Patriot Way. Other players don’t seem to mind holding their tongues.

Then there is the issue of the Patriots letting Welker walk. If you look at the numbers it looks like Welker wanted to walk. He agreed to two years for $12 million with about $300,000 in incentives in Denver. The Patriots offered him two years for $10 million with incentives that increased it to $16 million. The how and why come down to a he said/ she said between the Patriots and Welker’s agents. On its face it sounds like Welker was ready to walk and got an offer from another team he was willing to go to. No real way to assign blame there unless of course Shaughnessy was a part of said negotiations.

If anyone has the quote where Belichick blames Welker for the Super Bowl XLVI loss then I’d like to see it. Personally, I’ve only found both Tom Brady and Welker trying to accept blame for the missed throw and catch. Nowhere have I seen Belichick assign blame to anyone for the loss. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen Belichick openly blame anyone besides himself for a Patriots loss. Sounds like a pretty unjustified accusation by Shaughnessy.

Shaughnessy

So the question becomes, why would Shaughnessy write such an article? Well I’ll tell you. It’s because right now the hot topic is Belichick claiming that Welker intentionally took Aqib Talib out of the AFC Championship game. Since Shaughnessy lacks the ability to write anything original or entertaining he chose this reach of an accusation that Belichick hates Welker.

Funny how Shaugnessy writes this line, “The myth of the Patriots’ brilliance and greatness had fooled a lot of folks into believing that a depleted, quite ordinary team was going back to the Super Bowl,” and yet on December 9th had a column titled, “Patriots seem to be set up for implausible Super Bowl run.” To be fair, the column is a bit tongue in cheek but at its core it’s about how the Patriots had just finished a series of comebacks against the Broncos, Texans and Browns. Odd how Shaughnessy would write such an article as the Patriots sat at 10-3 and were looking strong heading into the playoffs. Troll for readers much?

Does Belichick hate Welker, maybe, maybe not? Will they be snapchatting each other selfies during the offseason, I’d venture to say no. But, should you be listening to someone who self admittedly is not a football guy and doesn’t know a ton about football (Yes, Shaughnessy told a Houston radio station that)? Again, I’d venture to say no.